Girl who 'messaged gunman' before Texas shooting speaks: 'I was afraid'
Chilling messages have emerged between a young girl and a male who appears to be the teenage gunman who shot dead at least 19 students, one teacher and another adult at a Texas primary school.
In Instagram stories seen by Yahoo News, the female user shared a series of vague messages she thinks are from gunman Salvador Ramos, 18, which he allegedly sent earlier this month and right before the brutal massacre.
The unnamed girl shut down claims she knew the gun-obsessed teenager who was spotted lurking around school buildings before unleashing on his victims.
She said she doesn’t know why she was tagged by the alleged gunman, and the only reason she continued replying was because she "was afraid of him," she revealed. The young woman said she's not even from Texas, where the gunman lived.
The female Instagram user claimed Ramos randomly messaged her, tagging her in a photo of guns on May 12.
"What your guns gotta do with me?" she asked on Friday
"Just wanted to tag you," the shooter wrote back
Without explanation the poster, believed to be the teen gunman, says: "I'm about to."
"About to what," she eventually responds
"I’ll tell you before 11", the poster responds
She replies the next morning.
"I got lil secret. I wanna tell you" he continued on Tuesday morning, triggering more messages between the pair.
The supposed gunman continued to share a series of vague messages which the young woman admitted "confused" her.
In a statement posted to the user’s story following the tragic news, the user wrote: "I wish I stayed awake to at least try to convince him to not commit his crime, I didn’t know.
"I don’t know him and I don’t even live in Texas."
Since the news of the shooting, the girl revealed she handed over the messages to police and offered her condolences to the victim's families.
Multiple fake accounts with the alleged shooter’s photo have been made on Instagram, according to The Sun.
Because of this, the female user reportedly wrote on her stories: "All of the people posing as him are sick. You’re disgusting.”
Death toll rises to 21
Ramos was shot dead by police after he opened fire at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde on Tuesday morning (local time).
The students who were killed or injured were either in the second, third or fourth grade, who are typically aged between 7 and 10 in the US.
The death toll was first believed to be 15 but Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez updated the death toll to 21 on Tuesday evening.
Eva Mireles was identified as the teacher shot dead by Ramos with her family speaking out about the horrific attack in a statement.
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